Today is Day 14 of our Lenten Reflections on the Gospel of John.  Sign up here to receive these reflections in your email. 

A Reflection on John 6: 25-40

“Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you?” (v 30)

Jesus has performed a great sign: he has taken five loaves and two fish and fed the 5,000.  Barely a day has passed, yet the people have already forgotten the wonder they felt feeding on the miracle.  They have seen the sign, but in the struggle to believe Jesus’ words, they begin to doubt and demand more.  They desire more tangible proof.

But Jesus is not here to promise worldly satisfaction.  “Not as the world gives do I give to you,” he says to the Apostles at the Last Supper (John 14:27).  He has come not to give merely physical bread but His very self, “the food which endures to eternal life… I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” (v 27, 35)

How many times do we desire more?  More proof, more signs, more miracles?  “Jesus,” we pray, “if you could just do this, then I would trust, then I would follow you.”  We have seen miracle after miracle, sign after sign, yet still we doubt.  Our forgetful hearts still hunger and thirst because we have yet to fully come to him, we do not yet fully believe in him.  We seek worldly satisfaction, when we know that the world will never truly satisfy.  He knows it, too.  He wants to give us so much more; He wants to give us the bread of Life, His very self.

Will you come to Him? Will you believe and trust and let him satisfy your hunger and quench your thirst?

My Jesus, my heart is troubled with doubt more often than I want to admit.  I am sorry for doubting your words, your love.  Jesus, I want to be filled with you.  I want the peace that only you can give.  Please, Lord, come into me and sit on the throne of my heart so I can be truly satisfied.

Scripture quotations are from The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1965, 1966 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved worldwide.